EC- Response to Shanae 12/1

In my Mass Media and Society class, media literacy was a core concept that we discussed extensively. This concept was also introduced briefly in the “Advertising as Persuasion” chapter of Persuasion and Influence in American Life. Media literacy is a term used to describe the act of being critically conscious of the media one consumes. People have to realize that “’news is gathered, written, edited, produced, and disseminated by human beings who are part of organizations and who have beliefs and values… These beliefs, values, functions, and interests are bound to influence the messages these networks publish and broadcast’” (p. 370). I believe that media literacy is seriously overlooked and should be implemented into school curriculums. Do you feel the same? Should school introduce some type of education to make people more aware of what and how they consume media? Why or why not?

I completely agree that media literacy is overlooked and would be beneficial to have in school curriculums. I feel that it is important for people to understand how the media works and the strategies they use in order to persuade and influence their audience. Personally, I feel that after taking so many media classes, I am more aware of my surroundings and am more likely to question everything I see on television. Rather than just believing the information that's being presented, I usually want to look into it a little deeper to make sure I'm not getting a biased opinion.

Another thing I've taken more notice to would be product placement in movies and television. One example I can think of would be the hundreds of ads that were featured in the Sex and the City movie. Since it was such a huge deal and the movie was getting so much publicity, designers and all other brands would get advertisements embedded in the movie. I thought it was interesting because when I was watching the movie, one of my friends made a comment about wanting the Mercedes that Samantha in the movie was driving. However when I thought more about what she said, I noticed that throughout the 6 seasons of Sex and the City, we never see Samantha driving a car. She was always walking, taking a cab or taking a limo--but all of a sudden, she began driving a car just for the movie. Then we find out later on that Mercedes has given away free cars and paid for their product to be featured. So now, not only are companies paying for their product to be featured in the movies, the product itself can be written into the script.

I think that people should definitely be more aware of how they are consuming the media. So many things in the media are skewed and strategically portrayed a certain way, so it is important for people to be aware of what is happening. Audiences are easily influenced by the media and celebrities, therefore it would be smart to think for yourself and not be swayed to buy something or believe everything in the news just because it's being broadcasted. After taking Communications classes, I am definitely more prone to do research before believing everything I see or hear in the media.